Difference between revisions of "Units"

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While units in Bitcoin usually follow the Standard Metric Notation system, this page lists the most commonly-used units. These can be expressed in any number of ways, from using some form of the prefix to an abbreviation of both the prefix and adding Bitcoin. Bitcoin as a unit of account is sometimes written without capitalization, but since it is not a genericized term yet and refers to one specific type of crypto-currency, capitalization is left as an exercise for the reader.
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Most commonly, units of bitcoin are expressed in decimal exponents such as BTC ("bitcoins"), mBTC ("millibitcoins") and μBTC ("bits").
  
{| class="wikitable sortable"
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==Decimal metric units==
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The BTC unit was chosen to represent a value of 10<sup>8</sup> so as to give sub-unit precision rather than large whole numbers.
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Mirroring the standard ''Le Système International d'Unités'', this allows for divisions of 1/10th (deci-bitcoins, dBTC), 1/100th (centi-bitcoins, cBTC), 1/1 000th (milli-bitcoins, mBTC), and 1/1 000 000 (micro-bitcoins, μBTC).
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===Bits===
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Many have adopted the practice of referring to the micro-bitcoin metric sub-unit as "bits".
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<!-- FIXME: stub -->
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==Table of all units==
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This table is intended to include all well-defined units of bitcoin value, including less common and niche units.
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{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:right;font-family:Console, fixed, monospace"
 
|-
 
|-
 
! Unit !! Abbreviation !! Decimal (BTC) !! Alternate names !! Info
 
! Unit !! Abbreviation !! Decimal (BTC) !! Alternate names !! Info
 
|-
 
|-
| Algorithmic Max || - || 20,999,999.9769<ref>[http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=%28sum%28210000*floor%285000000000%2F2^i%29%29%2C+i%3D0+to+32%29%2F10000000 Wolfram Alpha Calculation]</ref> || - || Current Max Possible: 20999839.77085749<ref>Current actually possible must take into account duplicate coinbases, destroyed fees, and provably destroyed coin outputs including the unspendable Genesis block. Some of this can be derived from 'bitcoin-cli gettxoutsetinfo' and subtracting that value from the then-current theoretically-possible maximum. As of this writing, it is 160.20604251 of unspendable BTC.</ref>
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| Algorithmic maximum || || 20,999,999.9769&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; || || [http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=%28sum%28210000*floor%285000000000%2F2^i%29%29%2C+i%3D0+to+32%29%2F10000000 Calculation]
|-
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|- style="background-color:#ddffdd"
| megaBitcoin || MBTC || 1,000,000 || - || Rarely used in context
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| tam-bitcoin || || 2,814,749.76710656 || || 1,0000,0000 tonal
|-
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|- style="background-color:#ddddff"
| kiloBitcoin || kBTC || 1,000 || - || Rarely used in context
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| mega-bitcoin || MBTC || 1,000,000&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; || || Rare in context
|-
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|- style="background-color:#ddddff"
| Original Block Reward || - || 50 || block || Until [[Halving day 2012|block 210000]]
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| kilo-bitcoin || kBTC || 1,000&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; || || Rare in context
|-
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|- style="background-color:#ddddff"
| Current Block Reward || - || 25 || block || As of [[Halving day 2012|block 210000]]
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| hecto-bitcoin || hBTC || 100&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; || || Rare
|-
 
| decaBitcoin || daBTC || 10 || - || Rarely used in context
 
|-
 
| Bitcoin || BTC || 1 || coin || Base unit (100 million [[satoshi (unit)|satoshis]])
 
|-
 
| deciBitcoin || dBTC || 0.1 || - || Rarely used in context
 
|-
 
| centiBitcoin || cBTC || 0.01 || bitcent || Frequently used until the [[November 2013 bubble]]
 
 
|-
 
|-
| [[millibit|milliBitcoin]] || mBTC || 0.001 || millibit, millicoin, millie || Thousandth of a Bitcoin, frequently used subdivision
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| Initial block subsidy || || 50&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; || || Until [[Halving day 2012|block 210000]]
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|- style="background-color:#ddffdd"
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| bong-bitcoin || ᵇTBC || 42.94967296 || || 1,0000 tonal
 
|-
 
|-
| [[bit (unit)|microBitcoin]] || μBTC || 0.000001 || bit || Millionth of a Bitcoin, frequently used subdivision
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| Current block subsidy || || 25&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; || block || As of [[Halving day 2012|block 210000]]
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|- style="background-color:#ddddff"
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| deca-bitcoin || daBTC || 10&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; || || Rare
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|- style="background-color:#ddffdd"
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| mill-bitcoin || ᵐTBC || 2.68435456 || || 1000 tonal
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|- style="background-color:#ddddff"
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| bitcoin || BTC || 1&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; || coin || SI base unit
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|- style="background-color:#ddffdd"
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| san-bitcoin || ˢTBC || 0.16777216 || || 100 tonal
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|- style="background-color:#ddddff"
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| deci-bitcoin || dBTC || 0.1&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; || || Rare
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|- style="background-color:#ddffdd"
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| ton-bitcoin || ᵗTBC || 0.01048576 || || 10 tonal
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|- style="background-color:#ddddff"
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| centi-bitcoin || cBTC || 0.01&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; || bitcent || Formerly frequent<ref>Bitcents were frequent until the [[November 2013 bubble]]</ref>
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|- style="background-color:#ddddff"
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| [[millibit|milli-bitcoin]] || mBTC || 0.001&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; || millibit, millie || Occasional
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|- style="background-color:#ddffdd"
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| bitcoin || TBC || 0.00065536 || || Tonal base unit
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|- style="background-color:#ddffdd"
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| bitcoin-ton || TBCᵗ || 0.00004096 || || 0.1 tonal
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|- style="background-color:#ddffdd"
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| bitcoin-san || TBCˢ || 0.00000256 || || 0.01 tonal
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|- style="background-color:#ddddff"
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| [[bit (unit)|micro-bitcoin]] || μBTC || 0.000001&nbsp;&nbsp; || bit || Frequent
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|- style="background-color:#ddffdd"
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| bitcoin-mill || TBCᵐ || 0.00000016 || || 0.001 tonal
 
|-
 
|-
| Finney<ref>[http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/2ewp3z/i_propose_we_rename_00000001_btc_as_the_finney/ After Hal Finney, Bitcoin Pioneer]</ref> || - || 0.0000001 || Finney || 10 millionth, 1e-7
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| || || 0.0000001&nbsp; || finney<ref>[http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/2ewp3z/i_propose_we_rename_00000001_btc_as_the_finney/ After Hal Finney, Bitcoin Pioneer]</ref> ||
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|- style="background-color:#ddffdd"
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| bitcoin-bong || TBCᵇ || 0.00000001 || || 0.0001 tonal
 
|-
 
|-
| [[Satoshi (unit)|satoshi]] || - || 0.00000001 || ''none'' || 100 millionth, 1e-8, smallest possible unit
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| || || 0.00000001 || [[Satoshi (unit)|satoshi]] || Blockchain value
 
|}
 
|}
  

Revision as of 08:36, 5 March 2015

Most commonly, units of bitcoin are expressed in decimal exponents such as BTC ("bitcoins"), mBTC ("millibitcoins") and μBTC ("bits").

Decimal metric units

The BTC unit was chosen to represent a value of 108 so as to give sub-unit precision rather than large whole numbers. Mirroring the standard Le Système International d'Unités, this allows for divisions of 1/10th (deci-bitcoins, dBTC), 1/100th (centi-bitcoins, cBTC), 1/1 000th (milli-bitcoins, mBTC), and 1/1 000 000 (micro-bitcoins, μBTC).

Bits

Many have adopted the practice of referring to the micro-bitcoin metric sub-unit as "bits".

Table of all units

This table is intended to include all well-defined units of bitcoin value, including less common and niche units.

Unit Abbreviation Decimal (BTC) Alternate names Info
Algorithmic maximum 20,999,999.9769     Calculation
tam-bitcoin 2,814,749.76710656 1,0000,0000 tonal
mega-bitcoin MBTC 1,000,000          Rare in context
kilo-bitcoin kBTC 1,000          Rare in context
hecto-bitcoin hBTC 100          Rare
Initial block subsidy 50          Until block 210000
bong-bitcoin ᵇTBC 42.94967296 1,0000 tonal
Current block subsidy 25          block As of block 210000
deca-bitcoin daBTC 10          Rare
mill-bitcoin ᵐTBC 2.68435456 1000 tonal
bitcoin BTC 1          coin SI base unit
san-bitcoin ˢTBC 0.16777216 100 tonal
deci-bitcoin dBTC 0.1        Rare
ton-bitcoin ᵗTBC 0.01048576 10 tonal
centi-bitcoin cBTC 0.01       bitcent Formerly frequent[1]
milli-bitcoin mBTC 0.001      millibit, millie Occasional
bitcoin TBC 0.00065536 Tonal base unit
bitcoin-ton TBCᵗ 0.00004096 0.1 tonal
bitcoin-san TBCˢ 0.00000256 0.01 tonal
micro-bitcoin μBTC 0.000001   bit Frequent
bitcoin-mill TBCᵐ 0.00000016 0.001 tonal
0.0000001  finney[2]
bitcoin-bong TBCᵇ 0.00000001 0.0001 tonal
0.00000001 satoshi Blockchain value

See also

References